2016 Postmortem
In reply to the discussion: Ohio is Gone [View all]Ikonoklast
(23,973 posts)into this country.
The shoddiness of manufacture, the substandard materials used, the sloppy tolerances, bearings that seem to be made out of cream cheese, and electrical parts that glow blue and go snap, crackle, and pop the moment you put power to them are giving parts suppliers migraines as they are not only on the hook for warranting the defective part, but many shops also ding them for part of their labor costs if the repair with a defective part doesn't even make it out of the shop, and they have to do the same work twice.
That labor gets partially charged back to the parts supplier, and if the supplier wants to continue doing business with that shop, they'll eat the cost.
Many independent repair facilities now specify to their parts suppliers, "Made In North America ONLY" parts when ordered, or they get sent back.
One day a couple of years ago at the shop that does my repairs, the service manager called me over and asked me to look at a pallet of brand new heavy truck brake drums imported from India, and asked if I could see anything wrong with them.
To my naked eye, each one was visibly out-of-round. Each drum was oval-shaped, instead of being as close to perfectly round as could be. If they had been used, it may have resulted in some rather serious consequences for all involved.
After that, all of their purchases are Made In America, and they don't care if they cost three dollars more for each drum.